Had my first 2 stays this year. Amantaka in February was incredible - attentive, personalized service, fantastic with us as family with young kids, excelled in every aspect from the food, the hard product, trips they arranged (the private sunset cruise on the Mekong was the perfect introduction to Luang Prabang), etc. The signature scent walking into the property was magical.

Amanjena by contrast felt like a total mess, so much so I checked us out after 1 night (of a 4 night stay). Booked a Pavilion pool suite via Virtuoso, no upgrade (not expected). Went downhill from arrival - got the number of children wrong despite emails with 4 of the staff discussing activities for 2 and not 1 so no bed available, went to resolve and dealt with a condescending member of staff who told me a) they’d upgraded me - they hadn’t, b) they were doing me a favor by letting my 2 children stay in the pavilion, c) took my phone to forward the activity bookings to himself despite 4 of his team having them. Paid to upgrade to a 2 bedroom villa - hard product is worn out, stained upholstery, bugs around the place (laundry basket, bathroom, wardrobes), not properly cleaned, indoor fountain that smelled like a public restroom, everything showed its age. Breakfast was weak and no changes allowed, gave us opened condiments from a previous diner. No keys given for the new room, forgot to send the birthday cake to my daughter, room service took twice as long as advised, food was worse than some diners I’ve been to at 4x the price, didnt apply the Virtuoso credit at checkout, had to ask repeatedly for them to confirm the 1 night rate they were applying. No conciliation or recognition of what was going wrong so I checked us out to another hotel where we’ve had a phenomenal experience.

I figured it’s the small things that can make a stay and Amantaka excelled. I’d caution anyone thinking of Amanjena unless paying a lot for a 30 year old hard product that needs upgrading, having mediocre food and 4* service is your thing.